Gattuso, De Zerbi, Inzaghi, Cannavaro. All names made famous playing in Serie A.

Now the quartet are cutting their teeth in management, and legendary coach Francesco Guidolin believes they are the future of Italian football.

After Vincenzo Montella was sacked by AC Milan in 2018, the passionate and tenacious former Azzurri midfielder Gennaro Gattuso was handed the opportunity to manage the team he made over 450 appearances for as a player.

Gattuso's former Italy teammate, Fabio Cannavaro, widely considered one of the greatest defenders of all time, started his management career in China when he took over at Guangzhou Evergrande in 2017. Such was his success,Cannavaro was appointed as China national team boss last month.

Roberto De Zerbi and Simone Inzaghi have both been managing in Serie A for three seasons. The latter's exciting possession-based football has been displayed at Palermo, Benevento and Sassuolo, while Inzaghi has continued his success as a player at Lazio by managing the club to a Supercoppa Italiana triumph in 2017.

After missing out on the World Cup last year, Italian football has been going through a transition period with national team boss Roberto Mancini.

And former Udinese and Swansea City boss Guidolin remains adamant his homeland is in safe hands with their next generation of managers.

He told TribalFootball.com: "They are all good, boys who face the great football for the first time. They immediately had an important chance, they arrived early in Serie A, but they all seem to be gifted, intelligent, capable guys, so I wish them the best future."

Asked to select one of the aforementioned to go on and dominate the game, Guidolin couldn't split them.

"I can't say who is the best among them, but the possibilities they have given are being played at their best.

"They are the present and the future of our football, they will be able to do 15 to 20 years of Serie A."